One of the most anticipated upcoming 2025 TV shows will soon arrive, and I can’t help but think that The Last of Us Season 2 will be one of the most soul-crushing viewing experiences of the year (hopefully on par with Severance’s brilliantly heartbreaking second-season finale). That feeling only grows the closer we get to its premiere, as the co-creators and cast members like Bella Ramsey tease more details about Joel and Ellie.
Ramsey spoke previously about the way they handled filming some of the saddest scenes yet to come, and while that ridiculous admission might help alleviate certain scenes’ emotional impact, the star’s latest comments about Ellie’s crumbling relationship with Joel have me back to thinking nothing will help spare audiences from the heartbreak to come. While speaking at Deadline’s Contenders TV panel for The Last of Us, Ramsey addressed where the fan-favorite pairing’s relationship is at following the five-year time jump, saying:
There’s definitely some doubt that Ellie has about that lie that Joel told her at the end of Season 1, so I think that plays a big part in the shift in the relationship. It’s really difficult playing being cold to him … it’s sadder for sure. And it will continue to just get sadder and more cold … so look forward to that.
Bella Ramsey - Deadline Contenders TV
I've no doubts that we'll see plenty of flashbacks that clue viewers in on what events have taken place during that five-year stretch, but I'm already bummed thinking about exactly when Ellie will figure things out and when she'll rake Joel over the coals for lying to her about what went down at the Seattle hospital. "You swore!" is not the kind of thing one says to someone they're eager to forgive with minimal resentment attached.
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The fact that Bella Ramsey talked about it being difficult to portray Ellie's coldness to Joel is really all the evidence I need to justify making a supercut montage of Joel and Ellie's fleeting moments of shared joy and compassion for one another in Season 1. Which would then likely inspire me to do the same thing with their more joyous scenes in The Last of Us' video games. They're more plentiful in the source material, understandably.
Bella Ramsey Addresses How Ellie Has Changed During The Time Jump
Even though her relationship with Joel sours immensely in the aftermath of Season 1's cataclysmic events, Ellie thankfully does find a new pillar of emotional joy in the form of Isabela Merced's Dina, who will serve as our young heroine's love interest following her relationship with Young Mazino's Jesse. (And will likely also be a big part of how spores are introduced in Season 2.) Despite that, Bella Ramsey spoke to how Ellie's rough survival story changed her overall, saying:
In Season 2, I wanted to feel her heaviness a bit more. I think she’s a little harder, she’s a bit more like Joel … but also she’s still the same person, like she still has the same sense of humor.
It's all the more depressing to think that she's become more world-weary and experience-worn like Joel even as the rift between them grows. And I'm going to be truly beyond upset if she ever loses the part of her personality that enjoys groaner puns and dad jokes, so at least that'll still be intact.
Bella Ramsey went through some important changes between seasons themself, and has spoken during the ramp-up for Season 2 about being diagnosed with autism and overcoming an eating disorder. So hopefully they were able to cycle through their fictional character's emotional trauma without anything plauging them when the cameras stopped rolling.
The Last of Us Season 2 is set to finally arrive when it premieres for those with HBO and Max subscriptions on Sunday, April 13, at 9:00 p.m.
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